Shimla, August 29
Ministers and MLAs are set to get a substantial hike in their salaries and allowances with Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh introducing the relevant amendment Bills in the Vidhan Sabha on the penultimate day of the monsoon session today.

The maximum increase of about 65 per cent has been proposed in the salaries and allowances of legislators whose total emoluments would go up from Rs 70,000 to Rs 1, 15,000 per month. The salary is to be revised from Rs 20,000 to Rs 30,000 per month, telephone allowance from Rs 10,000 to Rs 15,000 per month, constituency allowance from Rs 35,000 to Rs 60,000 per month and office allowance from Rs 5,000 to 10,000 per month.

The pension of MLAs is proposed to be increased from Rs 18,000 to Rs 22,000 per month. The increase will entail an additional annual burden of Rs 4.45 crore on the state exchequer.

The monthly salary of the Chief Minister is proposed to be increased from Rs 39,000 to Rs 65,000 and Cabinet ministers from Rs 36,000 to Rs 50,000, ministers of state from Rs 33,000 to Rs 48,000 and deputy ministers from Rs 32,000 to Rs 45,000.

The telephone allowance of ministers will go up from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 per month and they would also be entitled to a sumptuary allowance of Rs 30,000 per month. The additional burden on the state exchequer will be Rs 72.72 lakh.

The monthly salary of the Speaker is proposed to be enhanced from Rs 36,000 to Rs 50,000 and that of Deputy Speaker from Rs 33,000 to Rs 45,000, respectively. Their telephone allowance is to be hiked from Rs 10,000 to Rs 20,000 and they will be entitled to a sumptuary allowance of Rs 30,000 per month.

The monthly salary of Chief Parliamentary Secretaries is proposed to be increased from Rs 23,000 to Rs 40,000 and Parliamentary Secretaries from Rs 22,000 to Rs 35,000. The total additional burden on the state exchequer works out to be Rs 5.49 crore.

The Bills could not be passed during the budget session as the Chief Minister withdrew these as BJP members, who had earlier staged a walkout, were not present in the House. He maintained that since the decision to increase the salaries of legislators were taken with a consensus, it would not be appropriate to pass the Bills in their absence. The Bills are likely to be passed tomorrow.

The last hike in the salaries allowances was effected in April 2012 during the BJP regime.

Solan, August 29
Taking strict note of Congress leaders indulging in anti-party activities in the Arki constituency, the Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) president today served notice on three leaders and asked them to explain why they should not be expelled from the party.

The action follows a report sent by the Block Congress Committee (BCC) about working of these leaders who had been nominated to various posts in the government. The report had stated that these three leaders, including Regional Transport Authority member Satish Kashyap and two nominated councillors to the Arki nagar panchayat Anuj Gupta and Amit Gupta, had been abstaining from party meetings and holding parallel meetings that were weakening the party in the constituency.

These three leaders have been given 15 days’ time to submit their reply to PCC president Sukhwinder Sukku.

Sukku said no anti-party activities would be tolerated and suitable action would be taken against the culprits, so that it served as deterrence for the others.

Ever since various party leaders were nominated to government bodies in the state, the Chief Minister and the PCC president had been seeking a report about their working so as to ensure they were working for the party and not indulging in anti-party activities.

The Arki constituency had faced the worst dissidence in the district in the Vidhan Sabha poll, where a Congress leader had contested against the official nominee. Resultantly, the party lost this seat for the second time in succession.

The party had failed to win this seat due to anti-party activities by several leaders in the Vidhan Sabha poll, despite the BJP candidate facing anti-incumbency. While two leaders, including Amar Chand Pal, who had contested against the official nominee, and Sanjay Thakur, former block president of the Youth Congress, had been expelled for indulging in anti-party activities, a list of 12 leaders who had worked against the party had been sent to the PCC president for suitable action.

It is yet to be seen what action the party takes against such leaders, as one of the three leaders nominated to a government body also figured in the BCC list of 12 party workers sent to the PCC for having worked against the official nominee in the Vidhan Sabha poll.

Dharamsala, August 29
Two French trekkers, Xabier (20) and Valintin (21) remained missing for the seventh day today. Three helicopters, including a Pawan Hans helicopter of the state government and two Cheetah helicopters of the Army, were pressed into service to locate the missing trekkers.

The Pawan Hans helicopter flew over the Dhauladhar mountains up to the altitude of 12,000 ft today. However, they failed to locate the trekkers as a thick cloud cover was present over the Dhauladhar ranges.

Two Cheetah helicopters of the Army also arrived at Dharamsala. The helicopters were called as they could fly up to an altitude of 15,000 ft, whereas the Pawan Hans helicopter could fly up to just 12,000 ft altitude. However, the Cheetah helicopters could not fly due to bad weather and returned back. They are likely to be pressed into service tomorrow in case the weather becomes clear.

The French trekkers had come to Dharamsala for trekking with Field Service Intercultural Learning, an NGO, along with 30 other trekkers. They had gone missing on the Dhauladhar mountains while on a trekking expedition on August 23. The other trekkers who went with them up to snow line said the French trekkers had left a message for them that they were leaving for the Moon peak and the Indrahar Pass.

Earlier, a rescue team of 30 members sent by the district administration, Kangra, had trekked up to the Moon peak and the Indrahar Pass but could not locate the trekkers. The team has now returned. 

Shimla, August 29
The state government will seek funds from the Centre for carrying out relief and rehabilitation works in the rain and flood-hit areas of the state on the pattern of neighbouring Uttarakhand.

Stating this in the Vidhan Sabha during the Question Hour, Revenue Minister Kaul Singh Thakur said apart from the calamity relief fund, the state would take up the matter for additional relief from the Prime Minister’s Relief Fund on the lines of Uttarakhand. He said the Centre had released the first installment of Rs 68.12 crore and the second installment of Rs 69.25 crore was expected soon.

The Central committee, which visited the state to take stock of the damage, had submitted its report and it was under consideration of the group of ministers. Chief Minister Virbhadra Singh had written a letter urging Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take prompt action in the matter on the request of the state for providing Rs 1,972.08 crore based on the estimated damage sent by the state to help expedite restoration and relief works, particularly in Kinnaur district, which had been devastated.

He said the rains were still continuing and damages were increasing by the day. As per the latest reports, the death toll had increased to 64 and the total loss to Rs 2,934 crore. The number of buildings damaged has gone up to 9,812 and 24,390 animals had perished. The maximum number of 23 persons died in Kinnaur, where 2,983 animals were killed and 2,654 buildings were damaged.

The state government had released Rs 129.24 crore for relief works out of which Rs 57.57 crore had been placed at the disposal of deputy commissioners. An amount of Rs 25 crore had been provided to Kinnaur district, Rs 5 crore to Mandi and Rs 4.95 crore to Shimla. Out of the Rs 71.67 crore released to different departments, Rs 30.55 crore had been given to the Public Works Department and Rs 14.78 crore to the Irrigation and Public Health Department.

Raising the issue, Gulab Singh of the BJP said the quantum of relief being provided to victims in case of death, handicap and damage to house was higher in Uttarakhand compared to Himachal. He called for a review of the state relief manual and taking up the matter before the Centre for an additional relief to victims.

Shimla, August 29
Chief Parliamentary Secretaries Rohit Thakur and Nand Lal have criticised former Horticulture Minister Narender Bragta for "accusing" the government of neglecting apple growers and alleged that he was levelling such baseless charge with political motives.

In a joint statement here today, they said despite being a minister in the BJP government, Bragta “failed” to protect the interests of the apple growers. Despite inclement weather, the administration was ensuring proper maintenance of roads and availability of trucks and packaging material. All the apple procurement centres established under the Market Intervention Scheme were functioning smoothly and more than 1.5 crore apple boxes had already been sent to various markets of the country, they added. They said with the efforts of the government, growers were getting better prices in markets within the state and this had also helped in saving them from exploitation by the middle man, besides reducing transportation cost.

They reminded Bragta that it was during his tenure as minister that the Theog-Hatkoti road remained in a bad shape for five years and apple growers were forced to pay heavy through the nose for packaging material and transportation. "The BJP announced Parala market yard in Shimla district without any budgetary provision and it also failed to fulfil its promise to run Gumma carton factory," they said.

Mandi, August 29
Even as the DNA examination report of two leopards killed by erstwhile nawab of Hyderabad Shafat Ali Khan is awaited, the animals have shown no evidence of human flesh as per postmortem reports.

The adult male leopard, which was killed by the nawab at Lah Gala on August 11, had eaten dog meat, revealed the report, while the second leopard had an empty stomach.

“This shows how dangerous the hungry animal would have been when it was on the prowl along with a female leopard that day at Bunalidhar village,” said forest officials.

Shafat Ali Khan told mediapersons that the second leopard was about to attack the team when they spotted it with search lights that day. He said he had an order from the Chief Wildlife Warden to kill the “man-eaters”.

Chief Wildlife Warden AK Gulati said the DNA examination of the viscera would ascertain whether they were man-eaters or not. However, the villagers hailed the killing of the leopards, suspected to be man-eaters.

However, conservationists criticised the nawab for killing the two leopards. "The female man-eater still lives on, while the two 'innocent male leopards' were shot dead by the nawab," alleged Ashish Das Gupta, a member of the State Wildlife Board.

The second leopard was killed where a man-eater had killed a woman and injured her nephew in two separate attacks in July and August. The first leopard was killed near Lah Gala, while the third victim, Kashmir Singh, was killed on August 10, and the probability of their being man-eaters was high, said the forest officials.

Harshvardan Kathuria, Conservator of Forests, Mandi, said the teams were still patrolling the area. The DNA reports on the animals would reveal whether or not they were man-eaters, he added.

Shimla, August 29
Awaiting allotment of a temporary accommodation to shift out its office, the Shimla Municipal Corporation (MC) has urged the government to defer the Rs 4-crore restoration and conservation project of the historic Town Hall Building, which is housing its office, and let work on the beautification of the Mall project begin first.

Even though the Tourism Department has prepared the DPR for the restoration project, the project is getting delayed with there being no decision on the premises where the MC offices are to be shifted. The MC has written to the Tourism Department to start with the second phase of the beautification of the Mall first and postpone the MC restoration project for the time being.

A total of Rs 17 crore has been approved by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) for the restoration of the Town Hall and the beautification of the Mall for which consultants have even prepared the DPR. While the restoration of the Town Hall was to be taken up first, the beautification was to be taken up later.

Even though some accommodation, including the US Club office, vacated by the Public Works Department and the additional floors constructed in the Jakhu aerial ropeway were being considered, no final decision has been taken yet.

In fact, the inspection report of the visit by the Director, Tourism, Shimla Deputy Commissioner and the Commissioner, MC, to the Jakhu aerial ropeway structure has been submitted to the government long back.

The requirement of the MC to be able to house all its offices is about 1,500 sq m. With each floor of the Jakhu aerial ropeway having about 200 sq m, the MC will require at least seven floors. “We have placed the facts before the government as the number of floors which are habitable in the Jakhu aerial ropeway is only seven,” said an official.

The Town Hall Building will be the second British era heritage structure that will undergo restoration. The beautification of Mall includes laying cobbled street, creation of parks, making provision for drinking water, sitting area and other such facilities for the public.

On the other hand, the accommodation in the US Club is inadequate to meet MC’s requirement. The other possible accommodation where the MC offices could have moved is the space vacated on shifting of district courts. However, with the Chief Minister ruling out that possibility completely, the MC’s wait is still on. 

Palampur, August 29
Dr KK Katoch, Vice-Chancellor, CSK Himachal Pradesh Agriculture University (HPAU), has called upon students to make sports an integral part of their life. He was addressing them during the inaugural ceremony of the inter-college sports tournament here today.

He said the importance of sports and games had been recognised in the university and a running trophy had also been instituted from this year. Similarly, all basic facilities had been provided in the "Khel Parisar" so that the students could develop their personality with sports and other extra-curricular activities.

Dr Katoch said games fostered friendship and amity. "Physical fitness is essential for proficiency in studies and for winning distinctions in examinations," he added.

Dr YS Paul, Students' Welfare Officer, elaborated about the activities of his organisation. He said students of four constituent colleges would take part in various tournaments like volleyball, basketball, table tennis and chess. Power lifting had been introduced for the first time. There would be competitions for men and women teams of the colleges. The competitions would continue till September 9, he added.

All statutory officers, scientists and students participated in the inaugural ceremony.

Nurpur, August 29
Local MLA Ajay Mahajan said he would plead with the Centre through the state government to retain the shelved Disaster Management Battalion (DMB) of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) proposed at Kopra in Nurpur.

He was reacting to the statement of Revenue Minister Kaul Singh passed in the Assembly last week that the proposed DMB had been shelved due to opposition by the local people. He clarified that beneficiary landholders had not opposed the project but they had urged the state government to enhance the price of the identified land to be acquired by the NDRF.

He claimed the establishment of a CRPF group centre had been proposed in 2005 by identifying 23 hectares of government land at Kopra following efforts of former minister late Sat Mahajan, but it could not take shape back then. “Again in 2008, the NDRF had announced to set up the DMB in the same area by shifting the ITBP battalion from Bhatinda (Punjab) to this place. However, the previously identified 23 hectares were declared inadequate and 17 more hectares of a private land were identified and land acquisition proceedings were initiated to fulfil the requirement of the project,” he said. The MLA claimed that in 2012, the Punjab government had offered 50 hectares free of cost at Ladowal in Punjab to the NDRF for the establishment of the DMB. Following this, the NDRF had shelved the project in the area. He said he was raising this issue under the rule 61 in the Assembly. 

Chamba, August 29
Chamba Deputy Commissioner Kadam Sandeep Vasant, who is also Chairperson of the state-level Manimahesh Pilgrimage Committee, has launched a website for the convenience of pilgrims.

The website, www.manimaheshyatra2013.in, provides information about the yatra schedule, helitaxi rates, registration process and instructions to fill forms.

This was announced by the Deputy Commissioner and Superintendent of Police Jagat Ram while addressing a conference at the Bachat Bhawan here today.

He said the Manimahesh Trust had recently been reconstituted and it was decided that 5 per cent of the income of the helitaxi would be deposited with the Trust.

Taking into consideration the devastation in Uttarakhand recently, the Deputy Commissioner said 45 expert mountaineers of the Mountaineering Institute, Bharmour, had been deployed fully equipped to carry out rescue operation during an emergency.

He said the counting of pilgrims visiting the Manimahesh shrine was being made by way of group registration as well as cameras installed at Kalsuin and at the Hadsar base camp.

Priority has also been accorded to sanitation during the pilgrimage and for this, 100 temporary toilets have been constructed in addition to 10 toilets at Chamba to avoid open defecation, said the DC, asserting that 45 employees of Sulabh International had been deployed for taking care of cleanliness.

The Deputy Commissioner said 10 medical booths en route Manimahesh shrine had been set up for the wellbeing of the pilgrims.

Regarding security arrangements, the Superintendent of Police said the police posts had been set up at 10 places connected with the control rooms at the district headquarters by wireless communication.

In order to keep the environment clean and green, the pilgrims were being sensitised to keeping environment, he said.

Chamba, August 29
The All-India Senior Citizens’ Forum has urged the state government to set up an ayurvedic dispensary at the Chamba regional hospital. The members said the hospital was located in the heart of the district headquarters and was easily accessible to the people.

Since the district ayurvedic hospital is situated at Baloo, about 6 km from the town, it is inconvenient for the infirm and aged to reach there, the district unit of the forum said.

Opening an ayurvedic dispensary on the premises of the regional hospital would be an added facility for the people who believe in the ayurveda system of medicines, a member of the forum said.

Dharamsala, August 29
Two persons were killed and one injured as the Matiz car they were travelling in fell into a nullah in Lower Sakoh village, 2 km from here, yesterday. The deceased have been identified as Jagrup Singh (42) and Sanjeev Kumar (30) of Lower Sakoh.

Neeraj Dhiman,who was injured, was admitted to Dr Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College, Tanda, Kangra.